MORGANTOWN - Count on West Virginia guarding Stephen Curry tonight the same way a lot of other teams do it - with more than one player.

Just don't expect the Mountaineers to do it the way Loyola (Md.) did a couple of weeks ago. And so don't figure on Curry reacting the same way.

"I don't think he'll go over and stand in the corner against us,'' coach Bob Huggins said. "That's just a guess, but I don't think that'll happen.''

West Virginia (6-1) faces Davidson (6-1) at 7 p.m. today at Madison Square Garden in the first game of the Jimmy V Classic. The nightcap is Villanova against Texas. It's not a tournament, so the winners and losers don't then meet.

Both games will be televised by ESPN.

West Virginia was invited, no doubt in part, because of the appeal of Huggins. Davidson is there, unquestionably, because of Curry, the high-scoring guard who led the Cinderella Wildcats on a run in the NCAA tournament last year and is the country's leading scorer.

And he is that, averaging 31.3 points per game, despite being held scoreless for the first time in his career on Nov. 25 by a bizarre double-team from Loyola, which devoted two players to guarding Curry wherever he went, with or without the ball.

Eventually, Davidson coach Bob McKillop just sent Curry off into a corner of the court, taking both defenders with him and allowing the rest of the Wildcats to play with a four-on-three advantage. Curry took just three shots in 32 minutes, but Davidson still won handily, 78-48.

"He went scoreless just because he wanted to let his teammates score,'' Huggins said. "He could have scored in that game. He could have scored against those two guys. He could have scored some.''

Curry, the son of former Virginia Tech star Dell Curry, can score against just about anyone. In Davidson's next game, on a neutral court in Charlotte, the 6-foot-3 junior put up a career-high 44 in a win over North Carolina State.

After playing as a shooting guard his first two seasons, Curry has moved to the point this year and is averaging over six assists per game. But West Virginia isn't likely to guard Curry exclusively with point guards because the Mountaineers are short of them. Junior Joe Mazzulla hasn't practiced since suffering a shoulder injury last Wednesday in a win at Mississippi and freshman Truck Bryant spent most of his time in a win over Cleveland State Saturday on the bench because Huggins thought his play wasn't inspired enough.

"We're just going to do what we do. We'll try to extend the passing lanes a little and try to make him take hard shots,'' Huggins said. "I think we can mix it up and put a lot of guys on him and try to keep a fresh guy on him. I don't know that we necessarily have to guard him with a point guard.''

But Davidson, ranked No. 22 in both major polls, is a little bit more than just Curry. Andrew Lovedale, a 6-8 senior from Nigeria by way of London, averages a double-double (14.4 points, 10.4 rebounds) and Bryant Barr, a 6-4 junior guard, actually shoots nearly as many 3-pointers as Curry and with a higher percentage (42.3 on 52 attempts to 40.9 on 66 tries for Curry). Barr averages 10 points.

"I think they're very good. They really run their offense well, Steph Curry is a great player and they really rebound the ball,'' Huggins said. "I'm really impressed with the way they rebound.''

Following tonight's game, the Mountaineers are at Duquesne for a 7 p.m. Saturday game coach Ron Everhart's Dukes. That will be the sixth game in seven in which West Virginia has played away from the Coliseum, but it's followed by a two-game home stand against Miami (Ohio) and Radford on Dec. 20 and 23, respectively.

Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.